Graduate Student Grants
Student Excellence Awards in Jewish Studies
Offered for the first time in academic year 2024-25, the Center’s Student Excellence Awards in Jewish Studies will recognize Carolina graduate students, and advanced undergraduates, that are doing exemplary work in a subfield of Jewish studies and are active participants in the Center’s programming. (Including participation with the Grad Student Network, attending lectures, lunch seminars and Jewish Studies Seminars, teaching or serving as a TA for courses cross-listed with JWST, serving as Uhlman Fellows in Jewish Studies Public Humanities, conducting independent undergraduate research, participating in a related undergraduate Study Abroad program, etc.) Each award amount is up to $2,000. Nominations from affiliated faculty members are due January 28, 2025. Grad Students may also self nominate. (Details and nomination form.) Please note: Grad Students that are supported with a TEP Fellowship or Dissertation Fellowship in 2024-25 are not eligible unless they are in the final year of their graduate program, and students must have completed at least one year of graduate study at Carolina and must be working in a subfield of Jewish studies at Carolina.
- The Jonathan M. Hess Student Excellence Award in Jewish Studies
- The Ruth von Bernuth Student Excellence Award in Jewish Studies
- The Christopher Browning Student Excellence Award in Jewish Studies
- The Marcie Cohen Ferris Student Excellence Award in Jewish Studies
Guidelines for Graduate Student Grants and Awards — 2024-2025
Thanks to generous private support, the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies is able to offer several different types of grants supporting graduate student research and travel, including:
- dissertation completion fellowship for 2025-26 – deadline January 28, 2025
- Jewish language instruction grants – deadlines September 9, 2024 and January 28, 2025
- summer stipends, including the Jack O. Spies and Family summer grant – deadline February 24, 2025
- several research and travel grants [listed below] – deadlines September 30, 2024 and February 24, 2025
- Uhlman Fellowship in Jewish Studies Public Humanities 2024-2025 – deadline February 24, 2025
- Student Excellence Awards in Jewish Studies – deadline January 28, 2025
NOTES:
We have set up an email account for our grants program. Please send grants-related questions to: grants_jewishstudies@unc.edu.
Any student applying for multiple types of grants can use the same letters of reference and DGS letters.
Visit our Uhlman Fellowship page for details on the program and application materials.
Dissertation Fellowship
Deadline: January 28, 2025 at 5:00pm
This non-service fellowship supports a promising Carolina graduate student working in Jewish Studies in the advanced stages of his or her career at Carolina. The Dissertation Fellowship enables a student to focus full time on scholarship, improving quality and shortening the time required to complete a Ph.D. degree. This fellowship is available to all students in doctoral programs at Carolina whose work makes a contribution to the interdisciplinary field of Jewish Studies. This fellowship is designed to support students during their final years of graduate study. Priority may be given to students with a formally approved dissertation prospectus, but students with a clearly defined project without an approved prospectus are also encouraged to apply. Awardees for academic year 2026 will receive a competitive $24,000 stipend, plus payment for the three-credit dissertation tuition, fees, and health insurance for one academic year. NOTE: The Center’s TEP Fellows are not eligible for the Dissertation Completion Fellowship. Awardees will be scheduled to give an academic talk or seminar regarding their dissertation topic during the year they hold the fellowship.
Applications for the 2025-2026 Dissertation Completion Fellowship must be submitted through the online application. The application site opens December 1 and closes January 28, 5:00pm. Two letters of support from faculty and the DGS statement should be emailed to: grants_jewishstudies@unc.edu.
Summer Stipend 2025 (award amounts: up to $7,500)
Deadline: February 24, 2025, at 5:00pm
The purpose of this stipend is to provide support to graduate students working in Jewish Studies who normally do not have sources of support during the summer months. The summer stipend is designed to enable students to focus exclusively on their research and move forward more quickly toward the completion of their degree. Only Carolina students who will be fully enrolled for both the spring semester and fall semester before/after the summer of the award are eligible to apply. In order for the student to be able to devote her/himself exclusively to this summer research, it is expected that the student will not be enrolled in any courses or hold any TA, RA or other service position throughout the summer months.
Applications for the 2025 Summer Stipend must be submitted through the online application. The application site opens December 1 and closes February 24, 5:00pm. One letter of support from faculty and the DGS statement should be emailed to: grants_jewishstudies@unc.edu.
Research and travel grants (award amounts: $500-5,000)
Deadline: September 30, 2024 and February 26, 2025 at 5:00 pm
All research and travel grants will require a single application. By submitting this one application, the faculty review committee will consider your materials for all appropriate research and travel grants. These grants include: Carolina Center for Jewish Studies graduate research and travel grants, the Frances Carol Eizenstat student travel grant, and the Philip L. and the Melinda R. Kirstein research and travel grant. (Please note that the summer stipends and the year-long dissertation completion fellowship do require separate applications.)
Applications for Language Grants must be submitted through the online application. The application site closes September 9 and January 28, 5:00pm.
Note: fall semester grants typically support courses/workshops that occur in fall semester. For spring or summer courses/workshops, please apply in January.
Applications for the Uhlman Fellowship must be submitted as a PDF via email to the grants email account.